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Greece

Country in southeast Europe, comprising the southern part of the Balkan peninsula, bounded to the north by the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria, to the northwest by Albania, to the northeast by Turkey, to the east by the Aegean Sea, to the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and to the west by the Ionian Sea.

Government

The 1975 constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government, with a president who is head of state, a prime minister who is head of government, and a single-chamber parliament. The president, elected by parliament for a five-year term, appoints the prime minister on the basis of assembly support and the cabinet. Parliament has 300 members, all elected by universal suffrage for a four-year term, and the prime minister and cabinet are collectively responsible to it. Bills passed by parliament must be ratified by the president, whose veto can be overridden by an absolute majority of the total number of members. In 1986 the constitution was amended, limiting the powers of the president in relation to those of the prime minister.

History

For the history of ancient Greece see Greece, ancient; for the history of Greece from the Roman period to the end of World War I, see Greece: history to 1919.

War with Turkey

Following the defeat of Turkey in World War I, the Treaty of Sèvres (1920) awarded to Greece practically all of Thrace outside Constantinople (Istanbul) and, in the western part of Asian Turkey, a mandate over Smyrna (Izmir) and the territory around it. In October 1920 King Alexander died, and in the subsequent elections Eleuthérios Venizelos, who had forced Alexander's father, Constantine I to abdicate, was defeated and left Greece. A referendum held shortly afterwards favoured the return of Constantine.

In 1921 Greece invaded Anatolia (Asian Turkey), and in the war that followed, Greece was deserted by the other European powers, France favouring the Turks. Greece was forbidden to attack Constantinople, and in September 1922 the Turks captured Smyrna. This was followed by the second abdication of Constantine, who retired to Palermo in Sicily and died in the following year. He was succeeded by his son George II. By the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) Greece lost eastern Thrace, the boundary between Greece and Turkey being fixed at the River Maritsa.

Shortly afterwards, in August 1923, Greece was embroiled with Italy over the murder of Gen Tellini, the Italian delegate, with the other members of the commission investigating the Albanian boundary, while on Greek soil. Following an Italian ultimatum Corfu was bombarded, and although the Italians were forced by the League of Nations to evacuate Corfu in September, Greece paid a large indemnity.

The dictatorship of Metaxas

An unsuccessful counter-revolution against the ‘revolutionary government’ brought the monarchy into discredit, and in 1924 Greece was proclaimed a republic. The republic endured with varying fortunes until 1935, when, following a rigged referendum organized by Gen Kondylis, the monarchy was restored by an overwhelming majority and George II was recalled. Venizélos, Kondylis, and Tsaldaris all died in 1936, and Gen Joannis Metaxas became premier.

Metaxas established a dictatorship; parliament was dissolved and political parties suppressed, and in 1938 he was made premier for life. A treaty was signed with Turkey to last for ten years, under which each country undertook to remain neutral if one of them were attacked, while each would prevent the transport of troops or munitions through its territory to any state attacking either of them. At the same time Greek and Turkish troops entered the Thracian frontier territory, which for 15 years had been demilitarized under the Treaty of Lausanne.

The Italian invasion in World War II

When World War II broke out in 1939, Greece remained neutral. But in October 1940 the Italian Fascist dictator Mussolini suddenly and without declaring war launched an attack on Greece from Italian-held Albania. Mussolini had expected either surrender or a merely nominal resistance, but he found the country united and the small Greek army full of patriotic fervour. A small contingent of the British air force had been sent to cooperate with the Greek defence and, in November, while the Italians were still being pressed steadily back through the Albanian mountains, British planes delivered a crippling blow at the main Italian fleet lying in Taranto harbour, thereby reversing the balance of naval power in the eastern Mediterranean.

Under commander in chief Alexandros Papagos the Greek army displayed brilliant tactical skill in mountain warfare, turning one position after another by seizing points of vantage that dominated it. By the end of the year they had pushed the Italians back out of Greece, conquered nearly one-third of Albania, and were approaching Tepelenë. Heavy reinforcements, however, were now reaching the Italian armies and for two months the position remained essentially unchanged.

The German intervention

In April 1941 the German armies crossed the Bulgarian frontier into Macedonia, and – despite spirited resistance by the Greek forces, aided by a British expeditionary force of some 60,000 men – the odds were so overwhelming that in a few weeks the whole of Greece was in German hands and the British forces had been evacuated. The practical value of sending a British army to Greece was later disputed by Papagos (see World War II, Balkan Campaign 1941).

After Metaxas's death in 1941 political uncertainty in Greece increased. King George and his ministers withdrew to Egypt and finally reached Britain in September. German forces entered Athens in April and set up a puppet government. There followed a period of appalling privation for the capital and for the whole country. Italian troops entered Athens in June and formally took over the occupation of the country from the German garrison; but the Germans continued to control all communications, the coastline, and the airfields, besides being in control of Crete. At the end of the first 15 months of the Axis occupation of Greece some 100,000 of a population of 1 million in Athens and Peiraias had died of starvation.

Greek resistance

Guerrilla warfare by Greek resistance fighters got under way in 1942. Attacks against Axis troops, and sabotage of railways and supply stores, were frequent, despite reprisals. An agreement between Britain and the exiled Greek government was signed in March respecting the organization and employment of Greek armed forces, and the two governments agreed that among the objects of the war were the ‘complete liberation of Greece and the reestablishment of her freedom and independence’. Lend-Lease agreements were also made between Britain and Greece, and between the USA and Greece.

As time went by, differences of political opinion began to undermine the unity of purpose of the various guerrilla bands. Now that the king had once more left Greece – though under force of circumstances – the old republican animosities were revived against him for having kept Metaxas in office. The king tried to smooth over differences by issuing declarations promising, when he should return, to consult the will of the people on the political and constitutional status of the country.

The British, concerned that political disagreements could have a negative effect on the resistance effort of the ‘Antartes’ (irregular guerrilla bands), sent liaison officers into Greece, and in July 1943 it was announced that the Greek guerrilla bands had come under the Supreme Allied Command in the Middle East. There nevertheless remained five separate resistance organizations, the chief being ELAS (National Popular Liberation Army), an offshoot of EAM (National Liberation Front) – both with a strong communist element – and EDES (National Democratic Greek Army).

With the collapse of Italy the Germans revoked the division of Greece into German and Italian zones of occupation and resumed control of all communications. Early in 1944 British liaison officers succeeded in getting the representatives of the various rival guerrilla forces to agree to end hostilities among themselves and to cooperate in the fight against the Germans. Yet unrest in the Greek forces remained, and there were mutinies in both the army and navy based in Egypt.

George Papandreou, then leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, escaped at this time from Greece and went to Cairo to urge the cause of national unity. In June 1944 the king entrusted Papandreou with the formation of a government, but the various parties drifted farther apart. By October the southern areas of Greece were nearly free of Germans, although in the north fighting was still going on. On 14 October Athens and Peiraias were occupied by British troops.

Liberation and political uncertainty

Now that Greece was liberated from the Germans, EAM emerged as the largest political party. The fact that EAM wanted to create a socialist state and was openly against the king's return was responsible for a wave of monarchist feeling among the nationalists or right-wing elements, and EAM, favouring a republican form of government, was reluctant to demobilize the forces of ELAS while in control of much of the country.

The Papandreou government, with the support of Lt Gen Sir Robert Scobie, the British commander in chief of the Greek army, then announced its determination to disband these forces by 10 December 1944 and to re-form the Greek army to supersede the resistance groups as the regular armed force of the nation. At the end of December, following a visit to Athens by British prime minister Winston Churchill and his foreign secretary Anthony Eden on Christmas Day, the king appointed Archbishop Damaskinos regent of Greece. Additional British troops were now sent to Athens, and street by street the capital was cleared of irregular troops. A peace agreement was signed in February 1945. One of its clauses was that a referendum should be held to decide finally on the constitutional question, under the supervision of the Allies.

But this agreement did not bring political harmony. No fewer than six cabinets held office during 1945. In 1946 in some areas, especially in the north, armed bands resumed their activities despite the truce. Meanwhile, the royalist Greeks won the elections of March 1946, the first for ten years, and eventually a referendum again resulted in a majority in favour of the return of the king, who soon afterwards left Britain for Athens. He died in April 1947 and was succeeded by his brother, Paul.

The civil war resumes

In 1947 the civil war flared up again. That Greece did not fall under communist influence was undoubtedly partially due to the massive aid the government received from the USA, under the provisions of the Truman Doctrine. US aid in the end more than outweighed the help that the communist insurgents were receiving from the USSR and its satellites. Untold hardship was caused to the people in northern Greece by the continual warfare, and large numbers of Greeks were deported to communist countries.

By 1949 the internal situation was again critical for the government in Athens. The rebels appeared to be gaining ground, were in control of northern Greece, and were slowly paralysing the country's economy. Papagos was recalled from retirement and appointed commander in chief of the armed forces, with very wide powers. Eight months later, in August 1949, the Greek communists admitted total defeat, Papagos's successes against them having been fortuitously helped by the quarrel between Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia and the USSR.

Greece in the 1950s

From 1951 until his death in 1955 Papagos dominated Greek politics, his Greek Rally Party gaining an overwhelming majority in the elections of 1952. Though his rule was authoritarian, the mass of Greeks welcomed it as providing stability after all the years of enemy occupation, civil war, and vacillating coalitions. In addition, Papagos had the personal appeal of a national hero. The economy of the country revived, and in 1953 a treaty of friendship was signed between Greece, Turkey, and Yugoslavia, by which the Greeks who had been taken into Yugoslavia during the civil war were repatriated. In 1951 Greece became a member of NATO.

From 1953 onwards Greek politics became increasingly dominated by the Cyprus question, the court and government soon identifying themselves with the popular desire for enosis, the union of Cyprus with Greece. Greece's open sympathy and tacit support for EOKA (the Cypriot movement pressing for this union) soon strained its relations with Turkey and Britain, and consequently NATO strength in the eastern Mediterranean was threatened. However, in 1959 the Zürich and London agreements, in which Greece participated, established an independent Cyprus, with Archbishop Makarios as first president. This ended the crisis for the time being, even though the settlement rejected enosis, on which Greece and the Greek Cypriots had always insisted in the past.

Political crises of the 1960s

Under Constantinos Karamanlis, premier from 1955 until 1963, Greece made steady economic progress. New roads and industries were established and tourism greatly expanded, but there was no comparable advance in agriculture. The drift to the towns and a high emigration rate, both to the USA and to Western Europe, continued, and the gap between rich and poor remained wide.

In April 1963 an incident in London, involving Queen Frederika of Greece – whose pronounced anticommunist views and alleged authoritarianism had made her a controversial figure both in and outside Greece – temporarily jeopardized the proposed state visit to London of the Greek king and queen later that year. Karamanlis resigned when King Paul insisted on making the visit, which then took place as planned, though there were hostile demonstrations by various left-wing elements in Britain.

In December 1963 the Cyprus crisis broke out again, when Makarios advocated the unilateral repeal of the Zürich and London agreements. Greece once more was closely involved, and its relations with Turkey and Britain again suffered. In November 1963 the veteran politician George Papandreou had become premier as head of the Centre Union Party. In March 1964 King Paul died and was succeeded by his son, Constantine II, who later in the year married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. The popularity of the young king and the political stability of the whole country were threatened in July 1965 by a bitter conflict between Constantine and Papandreou. This was touched off by the alleged discovery within the army of a conspiracy involving Papandreou's son, the socialist Andreas Papandreou. Following a dispute over tenure of the ministry of defence, Constantine dismissed Papandreou.

In the agitation that followed there were signs that democratic government in Greece might soon be gravely endangered. The political crisis was temporarily settled by the formation in September 1965 of a coalition government, which included some of Papandreou's former supporters. Prospects for settlement of the crisis appeared good when, in late 1966, the leaders of the two main parties, George Papandreou (Centre Union) and Panayiotis Kanellopoulos (National Radical Union), agreed to proceed to elections.

The Colonels seize power

These elections were scheduled for May 1967, but before they could take place there was a military coup, and a junta headed by Col George Papadopoulos, Col Nicholas Makarezos, and Brig Stylianos Pattakos seized power in April 1967. The official pretext for the coup was the need to forestall an armed communist uprising. Mass arrests, mainly of left-wingers, followed. All political parties were abolished, while large-scale purges were instituted in the armed forces.

Although power in the new regime clearly lay with the military, the nominal prime minister was a civilian, Konstantine Kollias. King Constantine's attitude towards the new regime was reserved, and in December 1967 he launched a counter-coup against ‘the Colonels’, as the regime had come to be known. The counter-coup was unsuccessful, and Constantine fled into exile in Italy. This was the signal for direct military rule. Gen Zoitakis became regent, while Col Papadopoulos, who had emerged as the strong man of the regime, assumed the premiership. Further purges of royalist officers who had supported the king's coup ensued. In September 1968 a new and authoritarian constitution was approved by a large majority in a referendum; but, as martial law was still in force, this could not be regarded as a true test of opinion. Even after the enactment of the new constitution many of its provisions remained in abeyance.

Although there was an initial degree of acquiescence in some sectors of society the Colonels' regime never enjoyed any degree of popularity. Opposition was ruthlessly suppressed and, following the findings of the European Commission of Human Rights, Greece was obliged to withdraw from the Council of Europe. Power was increasingly concentrated in the hands of Papadopoulos, who became regent as well as prime minister.

Growing opposition to the Colonels

Despite the regime's growing unpopularity there were few signs of large-scale resistance. In early 1973, however, there were increasing signs of restlessness among Greek students. This was followed in late May by a naval mutiny, which led to the precipitate abolition of the monarchy. Papadopoulos proclaimed the creation of a ‘presidential republic’. This was ratified by a 78% vote in a referendum held in July, although martial law still remained in force in Athens and Peiraias. Papadopoulos, the only candidate, was elected president. He declared an amnesty and promised the holding of elections within 18 months. To oversee these elections he appointed a former politician, Spyros Markezinis, as prime minister.

The strategy of a move towards a ‘guided’ democracy met with opposition from university students. An occupation of the Athens Polytechnic in November 1973 was suppressed with severe brutality. At least 34 students were killed and many hundreds more were wounded. The Polytechnic massacre was followed by Papadopoulos's overthrow in a bloodless coup by Brig Gen Demetrios Ioannidis, the commander of the military police (ESA), which had assumed the leading role in the hounding of opponents of the regime. Although Ioannidis ruled through a civilian cabinet there was no doubt it was he who held effective power. He soon showed that he had no solution to his country's pressing political and economic problems (inflation was running at 30% per annum in 1973).

The regime's foreign policy was characterized by increasing belligerence towards Turkey and towards President Makarios in Cyprus. This culminated in the pro-enosis coup, inspired from Athens, mounted against Makarios in July 1974. This was quickly followed by a Turkish invasion of the island. Both Greece and Turkey mobilized, and in the ensuing turmoil the Ioannidis regime collapsed after threats from the commander of the Third Army Corps stationed in Salonika.

Return to democracy

The exiled Karamanlis was summoned back from Paris to defuse the tension that existed with Turkey and to liquidate the legacy of seven years of military dictatorship. Under Karamanlis's Government of National Salvation the Greek armed forces were demobilized and Karamanlis embarked on the precarious task of returning Greece to democratic rule. Karamanlis legalized the Greek Communist Party, which had been banned since 1947, and other political parties, and ended martial law and press censorship. In elections in November 1974 Karamanlis's New Democracy Party (ND) won 54% of the vote and 220 out of 300 seats in parliament. Following a referendum in December 1974 that decisively rejected a restoration of the monarchy, a new constitution for a democratic ‘Hellenic Republic’ was adopted, with Constantine Tsatsos as president.

During the course of 1975 a number of trials were held of ringleaders of the dictatorship and their accomplices. In August the three prime movers of the April 1967 coup were sentenced to death, later commuted to life imprisonment. Disappointment with US policy towards the dictatorship (which it had helped to keep in power) and over Cyprus led Greece to apply for accelerated membership of the European Community (EC; the precursor of the European Union), an application welcomed by the existing member countries.

The ND won the 1977 general election with a reduced majority, and in 1980 Karamanlis resigned as prime minister and was elected president. In 1981 Greece became a full member of the European Community, having been an associate since 1962.

Greek socialism

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) won an absolute majority in parliament in the 1981 general election. Its leader, Andreas Papandreou, became Greece's first socialist prime minister. PASOK had been elected on a radical socialist platform, which included withdrawal from the EC, the removal of US military bases, and a programme of domestic reform. Important social changes, such as lowering the voting age to 18, the legalization of civil marriage and divorce, and an overhaul of the universities and the army, were carried out; but instead of withdrawing from Europe, Papandreou was content to obtain a modification of the terms of entry, and, rather than close US bases, he signed a five-year agreement on military and economic cooperation. In 1983 he also signed a ten-year economic-cooperation agreement with the USSR.

Despite introducing austerity measures to deal with rising inflation, PASOK won a comfortable majority in the 1985 elections. Criticism of Papandreou grew during 1989 when close aides were implicated in a banking scandal. He lost the general elections in 1989 and Tzanis Tzannetakis, an ND backbencher, formed Greece's first all-party government for 15 years. However, this soon broke up, and after months of negotiation Xenophon Zolotas (PASOK) put together a government of unity, comprising communists, socialists, conservatives, and nonpolitical figures.

Constantine Mitsotakis of the ND was sworn in as premier in April 1990 and formed a new all-party government after his party failed to win an outright majority in the elections. In June Karamanlis was again elected president. Papandreou was cleared of all corruption charges in January 1992. In September 1993 Mitsotakis dissolved parliament after the ND lost its overall majority (three of its members had defected to the newly formed left-of-centre Political Spring party). PASOK won an outright majority in the October 1993 elections and Papandreou was returned as prime minister. In March 1995 Costis Stephanopoulos, PASOK's candidate, was elected president. Papandreou, his health rapidly deteriorating, resigned in January 1996, and Costas Simitis became prime minister. Simitis appointed the pro-Europe Theodoros Pangalos as foreign minister. Papandreou was declared well and released from hospital in March, but died in June. In September 1996 PASOK was returned to power with 41.4% of the vote, signifying a slightly reduced majority.

Foreign relations in the 1990s

An agreement on the siting of US bases in Greece was signed in 1990. In 1992 Greece refused to recognize the independence of the breakaway Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, saying it implied territorial claims on the Greek province of the same name. The republic was granted United Nations membership under the provisional name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in 1993. The Greek decision to impose a trade embargo against Macedonia in February 1994 brought widespread condemnation, and in April 1994 the European Commission took the unprecedented step of prosecuting Greece in the European Court of Justice. A compromise agreement was reached, and in September 1995 Greece recognized Macedonia and lifted its embargo. In July 1997 Greece and Turkey agreed to resolve all future disputes by peaceful means. In August 1999 Greece dropped its objections of principle to Turkey becoming, one day, a full member of the EU. It also sent aid to victims of earthquakes in Turkey in August and November 1999.

September 1999 earthquake

An earthquake, measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale, struck in September 1999, with its epicentre in a suburb 16 km/12 mi north of Athens. At least 127 people were killed and 70,000 were left homeless in the earthquake which was the strongest to hit the country since 1981. The government put the cost of reconstruction at $200 million. Turkey returned the aid that Greece had offered it after its own August earthquake; this reciprocation helped to improve relations between the two countries, and in January 2000 Greece and Turkey signed a series of agreements aimed at improving relations between them.

Simitis returns to power

In general elections in April 2000 Costas Simitis was re-elected as prime minister, winning by only 1% in the tightest political contest ever in Greece. He pledged to continue with his preparations for entering the European single currency, and with his efforts to work on relations with Turkey. He formally submitted Greece's application to join the European single currency.

Internal problems 2000

Greek workers brought Athens to a stop on 10 October 2000, with a general strike in protest against the government's planned labour reforms. The protest came in the wake of general condemnation of the Greek ferry system, which links the mainland with the many Greek islands, following the shipwreck of a passenger ferry which caused many deaths. The ensuing enquiry found that a large proportion of ferries in use did not come up to Greek or European seaworthiness standards.

Greece joined the euro in January 2001, with Euro notes and coins becoming national currency on 1 January 2002.

In October 2001, Prime Minister Simitis was re-elected leader of PASOK.

Greece

City in Monroe County, west New York; population (1990) 90,100. It is situated to the west of Rochester, along Lake Ontario and the Erie Canal. It is an industrial and residential suburb, heavily urban in its eastern quarter, with open land and wetlands to the north and west.